The Senate Chairman on 29th May urged to find out
cost-effective ways for water treatment so that common man could benefit
from it. He was reportedly expressing these views while speaking at the
inaugural session of international scientific symposium on "Safe
Household Water Prevents Diseases, Saves Lives." The symposium was
organized by Water Council — a consortium of international and local
water care organizations at Karachi. He underlined the need to educate
and activate medical professionals, teachers, journalists, volunteers of
relief agencies and other segments of society to take the mission
forward and make such process sustainable. The PMA Secretary General, at
this occasion, said that Pakistan had the fourth highest rate of deaths
of children under five-years of age in the world, caused mostly by
water-borne diseases. Water-related disease diarrhoea claimed the lives
of some 250,000 Pakistani children every year, he added. Stressing the
effectiveness of efforts to create awareness about the safe and clean
water he felt that simple and low-cost interventions at the household
and community level were capable of dramatically improving the microbial
quality of household stored water and reducing the associated risks of
diarrhoea.

The United Nations Disaster Management Team in
Pakistan met at Islamabad on 31st May and discussed the issue of water
contamination and subsequent outbreak of gastroenteritis disease and
skin complaints reported in Hyderabad over the past few days.

As reported in a section of the press, the meeting
was presided over by the UN Resident Coordinator and was attended by
officials of the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, FAO, national and
international NGOs and the Economic Affairs Division. Both UNICEF and
WHO shared their analysis and assessment of the microbiological and
bacterial contamination prevalent in the city's water. The team will
shortly review the extent of emergency relief assistance the UN can make
available in order to tackle the crisis. The UN would reportedly prepare
a detailed technical review on the causes, effects and potential
remedies to the problem within the next two weeks and the review will
include proposals for long-term remedial measures within the water
supply systems of Hyderabad and adjoining areas. Also, the UN will offer
advice on how best to build the capacity of the water treatment plants
and sewerage systems. The key findings of the review would be shared
with the federal and provincial governments.

The deliberations at the seminar mentioned above and
the efforts of different UN institutions are timely in the backdrop of
sufferings of the people, of whom hundreds were hospitalized with
water-borne ailments such as gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever
and eye infections. Many people in Hyderabad and the down-stream areas,
already facing drinking water shortage, were exposed to the contaminated
water released into River Indus from Manchhar Lake via Aral Wah towards
middle of May 2004. According to newspaper reports, there has been loss
of a number of precious lives due to diseases believed to have been
caused by contaminated water. Apprehensions are that some of the toxic
water may have also found its way into Keenjhar Lake that supplies water
to Karachi. The government has instituted an enquiry into the matter.
The tragedy at Hyderabad has brought to attention a critical area which
appeared to have largely been neglected in the past. However, it is
imperative that the problems are understood in proper perspective and
adequate remedial measures are taken on emergent basis.

Quality of water is important for maintaining good
health of human beings and animals; for growth of flora and faunae and
the prospering of fishing, agriculture and industry.

Productivity of human beings is increased due to
better health, less absenteeism and less frequent illnesses that more
often are attributed to contaminated water. On top of that the people
are obliged to pay for medical expenses and the purchase of mineral
water sometime to save the patients. The rivers flow from the north to
the Arabian Sea. If river water is contaminated in and around Peshawar
due to any reason, chances are it may maintain some of the contamination
by the time it reaches Sindh. The water quality might further degrade if
more pollutants such as toxic industrial effluents, municipal waste,
sewage, etc seep in on the way to the Arabian Sea.

Lack of safe drinking water is adding to the poverty
of the masses. One view is that Pakistan is unlikely to progress at a
fast rate unless people all over the country are provided with safe
drinking water. The government is urged to examine the full spectrum of
water issues and put in place integrated policies and action framework,
at federal, provincial and city government level, for ensuring supply of
safe drinking water to the people of all areas in the country. This
could be possible if water sources are protected from contamination.
Water that becomes available from rivers, springs, snow, rains and from
sub-soil pumping has to be protected locally from contamination,
particularly from toxic industrial effluents, sewerage, municipal waste,
etc everywhere in the country.

Protection of drinking water sources from
contamination is easier said than done. Water contamination can be from
minerals such as arsenic present underground or through man-made
pollutants such as untreated industrial effluent or sewerage discharged
into the water body. Pesticides used on agricultural crops or fruits
could also find their way to contaminate water. Saline water in the
saline-water channels is also one major contaminant. Some of these
saline water courses are possibly used to release industrial effluents
or untreated sewage. If at any stage or due to any reason such water is
mixed with water flowing in the rivers, it would contaminate that water
as well. Water from these very rivers or water bodies is drawn by the
water utilities for eventual distribution to the people for drinking
purposes.

Water utilities in the cities and towns usually treat
raw water before it is supplied to the people for drinking purposes.
However, it is unlikely that the water utilities with existing treatment
facilities could obtain safe drinkable water by treating toxic saline
water such as was recently released from Manchhar Lake. Moreover,
boiling of such water might also not make it safe for drinking purposes.
Further, contamination could also take place in the treated water
through leakage of sewage or industrial effluent into water supply lines
that lay in the streets. In view of the above, supply of safe drinking
water to the people in adequate quantities is more complex. It could
only be tackled by the government and the people through concerted
efforts.

The city people are in a better position to take
precautions against supply of contaminated water as compared to the
people living in rural areas. The city people can immediately protest to
the government for such contamination and in the meantime, at least some
of them, can protect themselves from diseases by drinking
mineral/bottled water. In case someone falls ill, he can be rushed to
the hospitals for treatment. The rural people as well as the animals
there are dependant in most cases on raw water flowing in the river or
the canals. The rural people are often provided water by the government
through canals largely for agriculture purposes. Such water is used by
the villagers for drinking purposes as well. Most villages sink water
pumps near the banks of the canals to draw drinking water. As more
people live in the rural areas, the contaminated water can play havoc
with their lives as well the lives of their animals. Health facilities
in the rural areas are grossly insufficient and the patients might
suffer badly even if brought to the cities for treatment.

Most people living in the rural areas cannot afford
to buy mineral water to protect them or their family from harmful
effects of contaminated water. Moreover, mineral water sold in the
market is not always safe to drink. According to newspaper reports, the
Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) and the Ministry
of Science and Technology has completed monitoring of mineral water
brands and found that 12 out of 21 brands are unfit for human
consumption due to bacterial or chemical contamination or both. The
analysis revealed that there are significant variations in the actual
and labeled values of the tested brands in respect of different water
quality parameters.

The supply of contaminated water to the consumers at
Hyderabad and the down stream areas, though an isolated incident, might
be considered by the authorities as a wake up call. The incidence is
serious and if proper remedial measures are not adopted now, there is
likelihood of repetition of such happening either at Hyderabad or in
other places like Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar or Rawalpindi and
Islamabad. As the release of contaminated water has the potential to
ruin the health and welfare of a large number of people, their animals,
agriculture and industry, the matter should be put at rest only after
confirmation that based on a proper study proper arrangements are in
place to stop any such eventuality in future. This might require a
thorough study/physical survey of the existing water courses and water
bodies and the arrangements in place at present for regulating clean
water supply.

The quality of water in various water bodies
including dams, rivers, canals, barrages might be studied by a Committee
of experts drawn from different concerned authorities and departments in
each province. The government might consider seeking help and assistance
from the international donor agencies such as UNDP, UNICEF, WHO in this
endeavour. The federal government might coordinate the effort and help
in the funding of the study as well as the grants and loans for putting
up water treatment/desalination plants. Main areas for the study might
include:

(i) Quality
of water flowing/present in each water body as compared to the standards
prescribed by World Health Organization (WHO) and adopted by Pakistan; (ii)
Susceptibility of up-stream sources of water for contamination through
discharge of untreated/treated effluents and municipal discharges before
water flows into the water body; (iii)
Discharge of untreated/treated effluents and municipal waste directly
into the water body;
(iv) Type and adequacy of water
treatment measures adopted by the Water Utilities drawing water from the
water body before treating it for supplying to the people for drinking
purposes; (v)
Quality of the treated water being supplied to the people; and local
contamination of water within cities due to leakage of sewerage lines
and mixing of the water being supplied through under-ground water supply
lines; (vi)
Study and document the saline water channels and the water bodies in
which these are emptied; (vii)
Examine the possibility of turning saline water into raw water used for
agriculture through cost effective measures; and (viii)
Study the possibility of building water desalination plants for treating
such saline water to make it fit for industrial use or use as drinking
water.

The findings of the Committees' reports and the UN
report on contaminated mentioned earlier should largely form the basis
for the remedial measures to be adopted at different levels of the
government, aimed at supplying pure potable water to the people. In
addition, the following measures might also be considered to strengthen
the framework for supply of safe drinking water on sustained basis.

1. UNICEF and
UNDP have jointly signed a $428,000 project entitled Water, Environment
and Sanitation in Sindh and Punjab, to provide access to, and
utilization of, safe water supply, improved sanitation and natural
resources management. The project was formally launched recently in
Islamabad and UNICEF and UNDP/Small Grants Programme (SGP) plan to work
jointly with the Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST) and local
governments on water, environment and sanitation programme. The project
will aim at community mobilization for reducing water contamination
through rational use of chemicals, reduced contamination and mitigation
to remove arsenic from water supply in selected schools in Punjab and
Sindh Provinces. A selected number of teachers, water system operators,
and social mobilisers will be trained on hygiene knowledge, operation
and maintenance of water supply systems and treatment plants, sanitation
and safe water supply. The joint programme will benefit at least 250,000
people from Sindh and Punjab in 2004. It is suggested that the scope of
the project to be expanded to include other areas of the country.

2.
Contaminated water from Manchhar Lake was reportedly released by the
irrigation department into the Indus River as part of an annual
procedure to increase the flow in the river during the summer. The
arrangements as to the quality and quantity of water might be reviewed
for avoiding situation as at Hyderabad in future.

3. The
ecological damage at Manchhar Lake might be assessed and remedial
actions taken to replace the toxic saline water with fresh water during
the coming rainy season. Similar rehabilitation action might be taken
for other water bodies in Sindh or other areas of the country.

4. The
government authorities might enforce the applicable laws and regulations
more diligently and take action against the water pollutants, who
release saline water, industrial effluents, municipal waste, sewage or
contaminated water into water bodies or into rivers and canals.

5. Water
utilities all over the country, for treatment and distribution of
drinking water to the people, might enter into contractual arrangements
with the respective irrigation authorities for supplying raw water of
minimum acceptable quality standards. The government authorities to be
also obligated to maintain safe quality of water stored in the
dams/barrages/lakes for release in the rivers/canals or for supply to
water utilities or for agriculture purposes.

6. Saline
water presently flowing in Right Bank Outfall is discharged into
Manchhar Lake to be checked for level of contamination. In future,
saline water might not be discharged in the Manchhar Lake. Instead,
alternate arrangements might be made for discharging the saline water.
Flow of saline water from Punjab, Balochistan and Upper Sindh to be
monitored. Scientific measures including installation of desalination
plants might be considered for overcoming the menace locally.

7. The
industries and the local authorities might be asked install proper
treatment plants within specified period after which only properly
treated water shall be allowed to be discharged in the river or other
water bodies. The government and its various specialized institutions
might provide or arrange grants and concessional loans for financing and
operation of the water treatment plants/effluent treatment plants in
different parts of the country.

8. The quality
of bottled water/mineral water sold in the market might also be
carefully monitored. In case this water is also contaminated or is unfit
for human beings, its consumption will provide false sense of security
against health hazards to the patients already suffering from
water-borne diseases due to consumption of contaminated water supplied
by the utilities/government.

9. As reported
in a section of the press a few weeks ago, some of the chemical
engineering students from the Mehran University, working under guidance
of their teachers, succeeded in obtaining usable water by treating the
dirty water coming out of the students hostel. This might be looked into
and a pilot plant might be developed to test the process and its
applicability on commercial scale. All engineering universities in the
provinces might be encouraged to carry out research work for treatment
of polluted or highly contaminated water to make it safe drinking water.

10. Through
print and TV programmes, awareness might be created among the people for
conservation of potable water and for saving water from contamination.